This invention relates generally to energy generation and more specifically to wind and fluid energy collection and conversion to electrical power.
Man has harnessed wind and water power for hundreds or even thousands of years. Windmills and water mills have been used to grind wheat, pump water, power machines, generate electric power, and the like.
Today the need to harness wind and water power continues. It is used when other sources of power are too expensive, inconvenient, unavailable, environmentally undesirable, encouraged by government regulation, or for many other reasons.
Traditional windmills are comprised of a plurality of vanes which face into and collect energy from the prevailing winds. Vanes are mounted on a horizontal axis. The vanes capture wind energy causing the vane assembly to rotate on the horizontal axis thereby converting wind energy into rotating mechanical energy.
Traditional windmills did not rotate on a base to face directly into the wind at all times. They were built to face the only the prevailing winds. Because of this, their efficiency is decreased when the wind comes from other than directly at the windmill's vanes.
More recent windmills are designed to be rotatable on a base so the vanes face into the wind regardless of the direction the wind.
Despite many improvements and new designs in this field, there remain many problems which have not been adequately resolved.
Traditional windmills are large, inefficient, costly to build and maintain, and are a safety hazard to pedestrians due the rotation of their vanes. There is also the problem of controlling the speed of the windmill in high winds. High winds can destroy a windmill unless precautions are taken to slow the windmill, stop it completely, or protect it from the wind, etc.
Additionally, windmills do not rotate at the most efficient speed for the task they are performing. If the wind is strong they rotate too fast, if the wind is light they rotate too slow. Finally, most windmills are designed to be most efficient for an average wind speed. They are not designed to be adaptable to varying wind speed conditions.
Clearly, there exits a need for an improved wind or fluid energy collection device which is efficient, safer, adaptable for use in high wind or low wind conditions, and which is controllable to rotate at a desired speed.